Judge forces Sephora Champs-Elysées to close at 21h

France’s largest perfumery, the Sephora store on the Champs-Elysées, will be forced to close its doors at 21h from next week onwards. If the
store fails to comply and continues to be open till midnight, there will be a
penalty of 80,000 euro for each violation.

Apple, Uniqlo and now Sephora

Clic-P, the discussion platform for the labour unions of Parisian trade, has
been crusading against what they
consider to be unlawful nightly opening hours in Paris. The Apple Store and
Uniqlo had already buckled under the pressure and Sephora now seems to be the next
one on the list. Seeing how its board refused to budge, the labour unions
decided to take it to court, where their appeal now got accepted.

The decision is a huge letdown for
LVMH’s subsidiary. Not
only was this particular store France’s largest store with some six million
customers, Sephora also claims that 20 % of its yearly turnover was created
during those nightly hours.

"Shameless
blackmail"?

The 160 employees of the Parisian store had all signed a petition titled"Nous voulons continuer à travailler
le soir" ("We want to keep working at night”), defending the
current opening hours. The
petition states that closing at 21h is not only devastating for the workforce –
as 45 jobs would be scrapped – but also for the customers.

The unions consider the petition to be “shameless blackmailing” from the
board. They believe the employees were given the document on 6 September and “had no choice but to sign if they wished
to keep their job”. Sephora’s board fiercely denied such claims.

Immediately following the ruling, Sephora’s lawyer announced his client would head to a higher appeal
court.

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